Super Mario Doomsday
by Theultimateweegee10
Summary: It was the day after the wedding. The day it all happened. Bowser kidnapped Peach - surprised? - But that was only the beginning. Mario and Luigi intended to find her any means neccesary, including investigating all of the land. Little did they know. The downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom was about to begin.
1. The Beginning

"Are you almost done, princess? Mario will arrive here any second now!"

"Almost done!"

"Good, I can see Mario and Luigi from out the window!"

It was another merry day in the Mushroom Kingdom. This day was special, however; the princess was about to get married to her love, Mario, the one who had saved her from the evil forces of Bowser multiple times. Mario had just arrived at Peach's castle together with his faithful brother Luigi.

"Good luck, bro!", said Luigi.

"Woohoo!"

Mario went inside the castle together with Luigi and his companion Yoshi.

"He's here, princess!", a Toad yelled.

"Coming!"

When Peach arrived downstairs she saw Mario, in a very different outfit than usual.

"Mario, you look fabulous!", said Peach, very surprised.

If Mario was going to marry the princess, he figured he had to look the part, thus he came in his most prized tuxedo.

"I'll go sit in the bar with Yoshi 'till it starts, Ok, bro?", said Luigi.

"Ok."

When the wedding finally begun, all of Toad Town was sitting in front of their televisions, or in the castle itself. The Mushroom kingdom had never seen such a great amount of Toads.

"Today, we celebrate the wedding of this couple, the princess of this land, Peach, and the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario. Now let's get right down to business. Princess Peach, will you take Mario as your husband?", said a Toad in a priest outfit. He looked absolutely ridiculous.

"Yes!"

"And will you, Mario, take princess Peach as your wife?"

"Woohoo!"

"I take that as a yes. Then, I now pronounce you man and…"

A loud scream echoed through the castle.

"What in the devil's name is this?", said the Priest Toad again, who, ironically, said devil.

"It's… It's… Bowser! Bowser is attacking!", a Toad yelled.

Mario thought to himself: "_If he's kidding, I will break his…"_

A Bullet Bill hit the toad with massive force. Mario checked for his pulse.

"_He's… Dead!"_

Panic broke out. All Toads ran from their seats and outside. Mario had never seen so much chaos before. And that's when he saw HIM… Standing on the top of his air fleet, attacking all innocent Toads he came across…

"Now, ATTACK!", Bowser yelled, no, screamed.

Koopas and Goombas jumped down the air fleet, Bomb-ombs tried to kamikaze in the castle. Shy Guys, Hammer Bros., Bullet Bills, they were all there. Mario had never seen such a big army coming from bowser. Mario ran towards his brother and whispered in his ear;

"Luigi, bring the princess into safety, I'll deal with Bowser's goons.", Mario said to Luigi.

"Got it. Princess, follow me!"

"Ok!"

Luigi tried to run away with the princess, but it was already too late…

"Oh, no you don't!", Bowser yelled.

A massive mechanical arm grabbed princess Peach, quickly taking her aboard the airship.

"Help me, Mario!"

Mario was too late. Peach was aboard the airship, with no way of getting up there.

"Oh NO!", Mario said.

"Oh YES! And the fun is just beginning!", said Bowser, in a voice that Mario had never heard before.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Footsteps echoed. A massive structure appeared next to Bowser. When it jumped down to the ground, Mario immediately recognized him.

"King Bomb-omb!"

"That's right Mario! I'm here to destroy you! And don't think you can throw me around like a basketball this time, I learn from my mistakes! Now, witness the wrath of my bombs!"

King Bomb-omb grabbed his bombs and started throwing them at Mario and Luigi. Even though Mario and Luigi could easily dodge them, king Bomb-omb showed no signs of stopping. Mario knew that they could not keep dodging and that they would slip up sooner or later.

Mario was surprised. "_He's throwing bombs around like a madman! Wait, maybe if I…"_

Mario tried to kick his bombs back at king Bomb-omb.

"_It's no use! When I kick them back at him he just throws them away!"_

"Mario, I think I know a way to defeat him. Big bomb or not, he's still a bomb. It just so happens that there is still a spare dozen of fire flowers in the castle. If I find one, you might be able to set him off.", said Luigi.

Mario was pleased that Luigi finally told him something useful. "Good idea. Go. I'll keep him distracted."

Luigi ran off into the castle to search for the fire flower.

"_I'll have to think of something, and quick. Wait, I got an idea…", _Mario thought to himself.

With one quick move, Mario jumped on top of king Bomb-omb and grabbed his crown.

"Why, you insolent pest…!", said king Bomb-omb, in his iconic royal voice.

Knowing that he couldn't shake Mario off, king Bomb-omb threw a bomb in the air above him.

"_Just as I thought…"_

Mario jumped back to the ground. The bomb exploded on top of king Bomb-omb's head.

"Curse… You… Mario…"

"_Come on, hurry up Luigi… He won't stay stunned for long…"_

Meanwhile, inside the castle…

"Where is that damned fire flower…", said Luigi, a bit louder than intended.

Luigi noticed a door. He looked inside the door. It led to the cellar…

"_I've checked everywhere in the castle already, this has to be where the fire flower is…"_

Luigi's work had payed off. There it was; the fire flower.

"Got it!"

With all his speed, Luigi ran back outside.

"You will die… Mario!", king Bomb-omb screamed in anger.

King Bomb-omb had enough power to be able to stand up again. The moment he wanted to throw another bomb at Mario, Luigi came running out of the castle doors.

"Bro! Catch!"

"_And right on time, too!"_

A fiery shield erupted around Mario. King Bomb-omb's face became more grim by the seconds.

"Oh yeah… HIIYAAA!", Mario screamed, in the way he had learned during the Smash tournament.

A volcanic wave flowed out of Mario's hand and through the air. King Bomb-ombs life flashed before him, again. But it didn't matter. He never asked to be reincarnated, anyway.

"AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!"

KABOOM!

A burning landscape was now all that was left of king Bomb-omb. Mario slowly inhaled and exhaled as the power of the fire flower faded away.

"Aren't you enjoying this, princess? Cause I am. Hor hor hor…", said Bowser.

"You sadistic… You won't get away with this, do you hear me? You won't get away with this!", said Peach in an angry voice. Very angry in fact.

"Now, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, Ok, princess? Take her away, my minions, so I can begin my speech!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Ahem… Well Mario, it seems you've won this round, but this war is far from over! King Bomb-omb may be dead, but I've got a lot more tricks up my sleeve! I'll see you… Soon. Hor hor hor hor hor!"

Bowser's evil laugh echoed through the air as his air fleet flew into the horizon. But something was different, and Mario knew it… It seemed Bowser had put much more effort into this attack then he ever did before with any other attack. And how did king Bomb-omb return from the dead? Mario intended to get to the bottom of it. Little did he know of the horrors that would come up ahead…

**To be continued in chapter 2!**


	2. The Plan

The attack on Peach's castle ten minutes ago had left Mario baffled. But Mario wasn't planning on letting Bowser get away with kidnapping Peach. He ruined his wedding, and Mario was pretty pissed about that. But there was something different about Bowser this time, and Mario knew what is was; anger. Immense anger. Mario decided to go to Toadsworth, princess Peach's steward, to ask for help.

"Ah, Mario, there you are. I was looking for you.", said Toadsworth.

"…"

"Mario, what's wrong?"

"Toadsworth."

"What's that, Mario? Did you just talk?", said Toadsworth, surprised.

"Yes, I did. You know I don't usually talk because of my image, right?"

"Well, no, I didn't know that… Anyway, this is very bad news. I'm going to give Professor Toad a call, so that we can discuss how to get Peach back."

"Why do we need to discuss that with Professor Toad, Toadsworth?", said Luigi.

"Because strange things have been happening all around the Mushroom Kingdom. Things that may affect your journey. You'll see what I mean."

Mario, Luigi and Toadsworth waited hours – or so it seemed – for Professor Toad to arrive.

"Sorry that I'm late, gentleman. I had some traffic.", said Professor Toad, while running around in the castle like a headless chicken.

"So what is it that is wrong, professor?", said Luigi.

"Well, let's start by saying that that the entire land that surrounds Peach's castle is populated by Goombas.", said Professor Toad, while showing it on his map of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario looked surprised. "How's that strange, professor? Bowser always puts Goombas there to protect his castle from us."

"I knew you would say that.", said Professor Toad. "You see, I've seen something strange on my Mushroom 3000 satellite. Here's a picture."

Professor Toad showed a picture of a somewhat off-looking castle, surrounded by a gigantic horde of Goombas.

"Is that a castle?", asked Luigi.

"Yes. It seems the Goombas are building a castle for someone.", said Professor Toad, while marking the castle on his map.

"But for who?", Luigi said.

"I don't know. That's what's strange about it."

Mario began thinking to himself, but he wasn't able to find a logical conclusion.

"_Can it be that the Goombas are building a castle for… No, Mario. Think rationally. I destroyed him years ago!"_

"But that is not the only thing I picked up through the Mushroom 3000."

"Oh?", Mario said surprised.

"Far from it. The second thing I want to show you is this."

Professor Toad showed a picture of an old pyramid. Mario observed it closely.

"Isn't that the pyramid of Shifting Sand Land? Is something going on there?", said Mario.

"It is indeed. Toads among other creatures have been reporting strange sounds coming from the pyramid. Not only that, but while I was watching the Mushroom 3000 I saw a sudden light flash around it. Toads also reported a light flash around the mysterious Goomba castle, but I didn't see it, so I can't confirm it."

It remained silent for a few minutes. Professor Toad searched for a picture, but he couldn't seem to find it.

"Ah, here it is. Ahem… But that's not all."

"What? there's even more?" said Luigi.

"Yes. Recognize this?"

Professor Toad showed a picture of a forest, which appeared to be completely destroyed. Skeletons of forest critters, Toads and even Koopas and Goombas were all to be seen on the picture.

Shocked, Luigi started yelling. "Is that the Mushroom Kingdom Forest?! How did this go unnoticed for so long?!"

"It didn't. According to the local toads, this happened about 2 hours ago."

Yoshi, who for some reason had stayed silent the whole time, started panicking.

"YOSHI! YOSHI!"

"What's wrong with Yoshi?", said Toadsworth.

That's when Mario saw it. Three skeletons of what appeared to be Yoshis were lying in the forest as well.

"_How did this happen?!" _Mario thought to himself. "Damn it…"

"What's wrong, Mario?", Toadsworth replied.

"Look!"

Mario showed the picture to Toadsworth.

"Oh my, oh my…I get it now…"

"Yoshi is scared. Luigi, go drink something with him.", Professor Toad said.

"Oh, err, yes sir!" Luigi replied.

While Luigi brought Yoshi to the bar, Mario's anger grew. He intended to get to the bottom of the case, for Yoshi's sake.

"Look, it's clear that somebody is behind this. I know that our priority right now is to get Peach back, but this isn't something I will let pass because of that!", said Mario.

"I understand, Mario.", Professor Toad replied. "But we're still not done."

"WHAT?!" Mario became increasingly impatient.

"While watching my Mushroom 3000, something came to my attention. Bowser's castle was nowhere to be seen. I looked and I looked, but no dice. So my conclusion out of this is that Bowser is rebuilding his castle somewhere else."

"Professor, do you have any way of accessing the Mushroom 3000 right now?"

"Yes. I happen to have a portable control device with me that has a screen installed."

"Then give it to me. Bowser needs some place to land his air fleet, now doesn't he?"

"I suppose that is a logical conclusion. Give me a minute to prepare it."

"Thank you, professor."

Mario used the portable control device to search for bowser's castle. After about an half our of searching, nothing came up, so he decided to search for Bowser himself. Another 15 minutes of searching did the trick.

"Professor, I found him! I found Bowser!", said Mario, so suddenly that Toadsworth almost fell out of his chair.

"Very good, Mario. I'll zoom in and put the sound on.", said Professor Toad.

Meanwhile, somewhere around the Mushroom Kingdom…

"Kamek, is your spell almost ready? I'm getting bored. Hor hor…", Bowser said while sitting on his throne.

"Yes sir, I'm ready.", said Kamek.

"In that case… TELEPORT US!"

"As you wish, sir. LANUAE MAGICAE!"

Bowser, Peach, Kamek and all of Bowser's minions disappeared in an instant, leaving behind not a single trace of their existence.

Mario looked surprised. "What the hell was that?"

"It seems Kamek invented some kind of spell to teleport himself and the others to Bowser's castle. That is my only logical conclusion.", said Professor Toad, just as surprised as Mario.

"If that is the case, then I have a plan."

"Well then, what is it?", Professor Toad asked.

"Simple. I go to the place bowser just was at the exact same time as him – which is 12:39 PM – and use the spell that Kamek used to get to Bowser's castle. To get there I plan a route that will make me go through the places we just discussed to investigate and – hopefully – Learn more about Bowser's plan. Because, let's face it, Bowser is probably behind all of this. Give me a stack of power-ups, then I'll call Luigi and Yoshi, and we're good to go!"

And so, Mario Presented his plan to Professor Toad, which he approved. Little did Mario know that this wasn't just a regular plan, but a road to Doomsday.

**To be continued in chapter 3!**


	3. The Mysterious Goomba Castle

Mario had chosen the most convenient route to the mountainside, the place where Bowser teleported: From Peach's castle he would go over the hills, straight into the mysterious Goomba castle. After investigating there, he would go to the Shifting Sand Land pyramid. Then he would go through the forest, after which he would arrive at the mountainside at exactly 11:30 PM. Then he would use the teleportation spell while holding a wand that Toadsworth gave to him. It sounded like a perfectly reasonable plan to him.

"Bro, take this fire flower. We should be arriving at the Goomba defense line any second now.", said Luigi, while riding Yoshi.

"Thanks. I'd take one too, if I were you."

"Good idea."

While the first Goombas were in sight, two fiery shields erupted around Mario and Luigi, each transforming into their feared fire forms.

"I haven't done this in a long time. Have you, bro?", said Luigi, with a grin on his face.

"No, Luigi. That's why I'm looking forward to every second of it!", said Mario, with that same grin.

Mario ran towards the Goombas with all of his speed. He stomped the Goombas one by one, while occasionally throwing a fireball on one of them.

"Hey bro, wait for me!"

The battle, now big enough to be called a war, grew by the seconds. More and more Goombas joined the fight, while Mario and Luigi destroyed all of them. Some were eaten by Yoshi and made into egg bombs, used for destroying even more Goombas. After a while, Paragoombas and giant Goombas were added to the mix, but the results were no different. After about an hour of fighting, all Goombas were dead.

"Wow bro, I'm exhausted. We should do this more often!", said Luigi, while slowly breathing in and out.

"Let's just keep this an one-time thing. They may be scum, but we're still talking about lives here."

"Well, you've got a point there."

Now that all the Goombas were dead, Mario and Luigi could easily search for the Goomba castle. It didn't take them very long to find it.

"There it is, bro! The Goomba castle!"

Luigi was right. Though it looked very different from the one they saw on the satellite, it was clearly the castle. They investigated around the castle for a while.

"Keep out, Mario. Gee, what a smart way to keep me from going inside." The sarcasm dripped from Mario's voice. "Whatever. The more secrets, the more fun."

"_It looks like the outside of the castle is done. I wonder how they can even build something like this without hands.", _Luigi thought to himself.

"I say we go inside now."

When Mario, Luigi and Yoshi entered the castle, they were immediately shot at with Bullet Bills.

Mario looked at the castle floor. "_What? A pressure plate? It seems Goombas are smarter then we always presumed. _Luigi, we have to be careful, these bullet bills were activated by a pressure plate. It won't surprise me if there are more traps around here"

A closer look at the inside of the castle revealed that while the outside was done, the inside far from it. Incomplete traps were everywhere, and occasionally Goomba workers would try to ambush Mario and Luigi.

"Mario?"

"Yes, Luigi?"

"What is it that we are actually going to do here?"

"We're here to search for clues that explain to us why and how this castle was build. Perhaps even clues that explain what happened in the forest."

"Oh."

After a while of searching, Luigi found a room that had a signpost reading 'The king's office. No trespassing!'. While Mario didn't know why the sign said that in particular, he didn't really care either, so instead, he went inside the room. They found two things inside: a desk and a safe. Mario picked the safe's lock and searched inside, while Luigi investigated the desk. They found nothing. Until…

"_Bowser! _Luigi, take a look at this!"

Mario gave Luigi a journal, which had this written inside:

When I woke up last morning, I did not know what was going on. The first thing I heard was "Welcome back…". I knew that voice. It was Bowser. Lying next to me was king Bomb-omb, on what appeared to be some kind of chair. Bowser told me that he would soon answer my questions, but first he told me what I was doing here. He told me that he had reincarnated us – me and king Bomb-omb – using a special kind of new power. He had chosen us because he thought that we would be able to help him in his new master plan. I, of course, agreed to help him, and so did king Bomb-omb. After all, he had brought us back to life.

I went to the hills, as Bowser had ordered me to. There, a massive horde of Goombas awaited me. They worshipped me, as if I was their god, which, let's face it, I am. They told me they would build a castle in my honor, as long as I approved of the idea. I gladly did.

The castle is almost done. Excellent. I shall rule from this castle as soon as Bowser is done with his plan to get rid of Mario and Luigi. After all, master Bowser is a genius.

"Well? What do you think, Luigi?"

"It seems unlikely, but if this is true, that would explain how king Bomb-omb was brought back from the de…"

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!"

Luigi was interrupted. Mario and Luigi looked at the door in front of them. Standing there was an angry Goomba, yelling at them.

"This is an outrage! This will be reported to Goomboss immediately!

Mario and Luigi were shocked.

"_Goomboss?! Can it be?! No… I destroyed him… On the other hand, king Bomb-omb was alive and well too, so it's not completely impossible…"_

The Goomba ran away. Mario and Luigi tried to catch up to him, but even for them the Goomba was too fast. At one point, the Goomba stopped dead in his tracks.

"Boss, Mario and Luigi were just in your office a minute ago!"

"WHAT?!"

There he was, sitting on a big throne; Goomboss.

"Hello, Mario. It seems we meet again."

"_I was right this entire time! During the discussion, and now during the investigation! How did Bowser reincarnate him and king Bomb-omb?! I have to find out!"_

"So, Mario, are you in the mood for a reunion? Because I'm not. Is a fight to the death okay with you? Yes? Well then, EN GARDE!"

Before Mario and Luigi knew it, they were in a fierce battle with Goomboss. He ordered his Goombas to attack them, and also attacked Mario and Luigi head-on by himself. Yoshi was also very active in the battle. Mario jumped in the air to try to ground pound Goomboss.

"OUCH!"

In pain, Mario fell back to the ground. He knew what had caused it.

"_Steel armor?! Damn, he's smart. __Wait, I have an idea._ Luigi, give me an ice flower! Take one yourself, too!"

Luigi obeyed and didn't question his brother. They transformed into their ice form, a form they didn't use very often.

"Yoshi, swallow up one of the Goombas and turn it into an egg bomb!"

Yoshi obeyed.

"Good! Now, Luigi! Attack Goomboss with your ice balls!"

Hundreds of ice balls hit Goomboss, until he was completely frozen solid. Luigi knew what Mario's plan was.

"Yoshi, throw your egg bomb at Goomboss, with all of your power!"

The ice block shattered, along with Goomboss inside of it. All the Goombas were killed in the blast as well. Mario, Luigi and Yoshi only suffered minor injuries.

"That takes care of that", said Luigi.

"Luigi, take any documents of interest. Then we should get out of here."

Luigi took a few documents out of the office. Mario put an explosive in the throne room. After well over 6 hours had passed, the castle exploded, leaving no traces of its existence. But by that time, however, Mario and Luigi were somewhere else.

**To be continued in chapter 4!**

**Hey guys! This is Theultimateweegee10 speaking, and I just want to thank everyone who read up until this point. I hope you enjoy reading Super Mario Doomsday as much as I enjoy writing it. If you do, thank you! I appreciate every bit of support I get 3. HOWEVER, I may appreciate support, but I also support criticism, because it helps me improve my writing. So if you enjoy this story and you can help me improve, please write a review below. Criticize fairly! Ass kissers and haters aren't going to help anybody. Again, thank you very much for reading. There's much more to come, so stay tuned! **


	4. Return to the Ancient Pyramid

Even though Shy Guys, Pokeys, and occasionally even bald Eagles would attack Mario and Luigi, they had never expected that Shifting Sand Land's biggest obstacle would be the sun itself. Still, they were in luck, since Toadsworth had given them a few gallons (1 gallon is equivalent to around 4 liters) of water to drink on their journey.

"Bro, leave some for me, I'm as parched as you are!", said Luigi, who had passed out 4 times already.

"Patience, Luigi. Patience."

"Leave some for Yoshi, too."

After a long time of walking at a speed of 0,5 mile per hour, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi reached the pyramid. But then, another obstacle had to be dealt with.

"_A door?", _Mario thought to himself.

"Bro, don't tell me the door is…"

"Locked, yes. We're going to have to find the key."

As Luigi spent his time yelling 'No' non-stop, Mario searched for a key. It didn't take him long to notice a bird flying in the air holding a key.

"_Oh, I remember you, you little shit. You're that bird that constantly tried to steal my hat a few years ago!"_

When Luigi was finally done whining, he started investigating the outside of the pyramid.

"_Strange… When I came here for the first time, the pyramid was still in good shape. But now… It's almost completely destroyed. As if some kind of blast hit it…"_

Retrieving the key from the bird – fittingly named 'Klepto' – was easier said than done. Seeing Mario dive of pillars trying to catch Klepto was quite a comical sight, really. After a while, Luigi was done waiting, so he ordered Yoshi to throw an egg bomb at the bird, which he hit on his first try. Made Mario think twice about his jumping skills.

"Luigi, look at this key. Do you notice something strange about it?"

"No, Mario. It's just a normal key."

"That's my problem. It's normal. But if you look at the pyramid, you'll notice that it is damaged. This key however, isn't. This implies that the door, or at least the lock, has just been built here, meaning that somebody is trying to keep us out. _But who?"_

Opening the door revealed a small passage with several trap mechanisms.

"_This place is filled to the brim with traps.", _Mario thought to himself. "_Even more evidence suggesting that we're not welcome here."_

After a few hours had passed, Mario started to think that if they kept their current speed up, they would not make it to the mountainside in time. He decided that they would need to take action.

"Luigi, let's split up."

"What? Why? Y…you know that I get scared when I'm alone, right?"

"Then take Yoshi with you. Look, this pyramid is huge. If we split up, we can cover a lot more ground than if we just stay together. Let's meet up back here by the end of the hour."

"Well, alright then… B…but if something happens to me when you're gone, it's not my fault!"

While alone, Mario decided to go to the underground portion of the pyramid. He found it to be very quiet without his brother around. Until…

"You… foll… bow… orders!"

"Luigi? Is that you?"

No response.

"Luigi!"

Again, no response. Mario walked a little bit closer to where the sound came from.

"Look buddy, Bowser didn't resurrect you for nothin'! You'll have to follow his orders, or we will have to put you down!

"_Crap, Bowser's minions! When did they get here?"_

"You're intruders! Me no like intruders! Me put you down!

Mario had heard that voice somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Wait, what are you doing? No, stop! Don't kill me! I have a wife! And chil… AAARRGGGHHH!

Mario heard a 'squash' sound echo through the pyramids.

"OH GOD! MIKE! Bowser is going to be so pissed when he hears about th… AAARRRGGHHHH!

Another 'squash' sound. Mario ran closer towards where the sound was coming from, but it was blocked by a wall. Using all of his power, Mario punched a hole through the brick wall, severely injuring him, although he didn't seem to notice. What lied beyond the wall was utterly horrifying.

"_Oh my god…"_

Lying in front of Mario were 2 broken Koopa bodies, each looking like they were crushed to death by a heavy object. Next to the bodies were a few bricks, each lying in some blood.

"_I'm going to find whoever did this…"_

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pyramid, Luigi was investigating a drawing on the wall, together with some carvings in an ancient language.

"_Let's see… On this drawing here, it shows some kind of machine shooting at a pile of bricks… These bricks then transform into two fist looking objects… Who then proceed to crush everything that they see, except for some kind of dragon looking thing. What does this all mean?_

No matter how long Luigi tried to decipher the message, he couldn't seem to succeed. Walking a bit further into the pyramid revealed more messages, all in a different language. One of these was strangely written in English.

"_Me independent. Me no take orders from overgrown turtle. Me destroy anyone who comes here!"_

After the hour had passed, Mario and Luigi returned to their starting point. When they discussed what they had found during investigating, they found that everything fit together, and that it all pointed in the same direction.

"Bowser is behind this, no doubt. But who could've killed those Koopas?", said Luigi.

"Actually, I might know. I fought and destroyed him years ago, but he may be back. His name is…"

A wall shattered behind Mario, Luigi and Yoshi. 2 fists, each with an eye in between them, appeared in front of them.

"More intruders! More smashing!"

"…Eyerok!"

The fight began. Apparently, Eyerok was a fan of the 'use brute force to kill your opponents' strategy, which was easy enough for Mario and Luigi to deal with.

"Luigi, his eyes are his weak points! Hit him there!"

Mario and Luigi beat the life and soul out of Eyerok, and eventually he began slowing down. His fighting techniques – which weren't all that great to begin with – became sloppy. Mario transformed into his fire form to finish him off once and for all.

"Take this, you lifeless brick!"

Fire began burning Eyerok's left eye, slowly melting it. This rendered Eyerok's left hand completely useless.

"Here, have some more!"

Even though Eyerok was severely injured, he wasn't planning on losing this battle. Right before Mario tried to shoot him, he decided to target the weakling. With one quick move, Eyerok grabbed Yoshi by his neck, and began strangling him.

"Yoshi, no!", Luigi yelled, completely shocked.

"_What does he think he's doing?! _Let Yoshi go, you freak!", Mario yelled at Eyerok.

Mario tried to burn Eyerok's right eye, and while it did injure him a little bit, he didn't release Yoshi.

"LET HIM GO!", Luigi yelled.

Out of desperation, Luigi attacked Eyerok head-on, kicking and punching his eye. All of this while Yoshi was running out of oxygen.

"YOSHI! YOSHI! YO…SHI!", screamed Yoshi, with a notable strain on his voice.

"MARIO! USE ALL OF YOUR FIRE POWER!"

Mario charged his fire power, preparing for one huge destructive fire wave. When it was done charging, Mario…

"YO…shi…"

Eyerok threw Yoshi to the other side of the pyramid. Luigi ran to Yoshi as fast as he could.

"Y…Y…Yoshi?"

Mario looked into Yoshi's eyes.

"_Oh my god… Yoshi… Why? Why did it have to be you?"_

"…"

"Luigi? Are you alright?"

The look in Luigi's eyes changed. A red color slowly faded in them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Luigi jumped to Eyerok in a speed of at least mach 4 and punched in his eye. Blood – or whatever it was, having a body made of concrete and all – came leaking out of the place Eyerok's right eye had previously been.

"You killed Yoshi… you killed my best friend… and you're going to pay for it!"

Before Mario could even see what was going on, bricks flew through the pyramid. Standing next to a pile of bricks was Luigi, with blood coming from his hands. As the red slowly began to fade away from his eyes, Luigi fell down to the ground, crying.

Mario carried Yoshi's body outside the pyramid, and lied it next to him.

"He was my friend, Mario…"

"I know Luigi. He was my friend too. Before doing anything else, we should give him a proper burial.

When Mario and Luigi walked away from Shifting Sand Land, they had built a grave for Yoshi, reading:

R.I.P Yoshi, our friend

This grave has been built of the remains of the thing that killed you

Your death has been avenged, buddy

**To be continued in chapter 5!**


	5. The Undead Forest

"You haven't been very talkative, Luigi."

"I miss him already, Mario…"

"I know you're shocked by Yoshi's sudden death, but we have to stay focused. If we don't, a lot more people are going to die, and you know that."

Death was everywhere in the Mushroom Kingdom Forest. Hundreds of creatures were found lying dead on the ground, either with burned skin or none.

Mario began thinking about what could've caused the deaths of these creatures. "_They've definitely been hit by something extremely flammable… Could it be napalm? No, napalm doesn't turn the sky purple… Whatever it is, it's probably something we've never heard of._

"Hey bro, there happens to be a cemetery close by. Maybe we should investigate there."

Broken graves and burned bodies were found everywhere in the cemetery. The sound, or rather the lack of any, made the place even more disturbing.

"I'll go search for evidence. You can wait here, Luigi."

It became even emptier towards the center of the cemetery. Eventually, Mario came across a gigantic hole, with some kind of dust inside.

"_Hmmm… The bomb must have exploded right here. There is some kind of dust in the hole… I'll send a sample to professor Toad, maybe he can provide me with some useful information."_

Mario grabbed a walkie-talkie device that professor Toad gave him at the end of their discussion. It was a 2 in 1 device that could contact professor Toad and take pictures of important evidence.

"Professor, this is Mario."

The walkie-talkie's signal was clearly broken because of all the fights Mario and Luigi had run into.

"Ah, Mario. What is it?"

"I've found evidence that I can't seem to identify. I'll send you a picture right away."

Mario took a picture of the dust and mailed it to professor Toad.

"Thanks, Mario. I'm going to need some time to analyze it. Give me a few minutes."

Mario observed the dust for a while, but it seemed to be regular dust. It seemed like a bad idea to him to experiment with it.

"Mario! Help!"

A cry for help came from the other side of the cemetery.

"Luigi, I'm coming!"

The cries for help soon became cries of pain. When Mario arrived, he saw a Dry Bone Koopa with green skin hanging from the skeleton slowly rip away parts of Luigi's flesh, which he then ate.

"Keep your hands to yourself, you filthy creature!"

Mario jumped on top of the Koopa. He seemed fragile; the Koopa's bones shattered, and he died.

"Luigi, are you alright?"

No response. Mario checked for Luigi's pulse.

"_He's still alive. I need something to stop the bleeding, and fast."_

Mario ripped away parts of his clothes and used them as bandages. The bleeding stopped, but Luigi remained unconscious. Mario dragged Luigi under a tree. He planned to defend him with his life. After a while, Luigi became conscious again.

"M…M…M…Mario? I…is that you?"

"Spare your energy, Luigi. You've lost a lot of blood."

"W…what happened?"

"You were attacked by a Koopa, a zombie of some kind. Can you stand up and defend yourself now?"

"Yeah, I think I can."

Mario heard a ringing sound. He grabbed the walkie-talkie.

"Mario, I've analyzed the dust, and I've found out what it is."

"Well?"

"What we're talking about here is an extremely dangerous, explosive material that can generate massive, fiery explosions when it comes into contact with even the slightest bit of fire. It's also radioactive, meaning it can infect any type of creature with horrible diseases. I've never seen anything like it before, almost as if it's out of this world. I'm surprised I could analyze it so quickly.

"Thank you, professor. We'll be sure to use this information."

Mario put the walkie-talkie away. He sat down and began thinking about what professor Toad just told him.

"_Horrible diseases… Could it be that these Koopas have been infected with some kind of mutation disease?"_

Mario stood up.

"Luigi, we have to find the rest of these zombies and destroy them. Otherwise it will be unsafe for the local Toads."

"Agreed, but you'll have to cover me. I haven't regained all of my strength yet."

While searching for the zombies, Mario felt uneasy. He could swear that he heard footsteps behind them, but when he turned around, he saw nothing. Sometimes he saw red eyes inside the bushes. Perhaps they were being followed by someone… or something.

"Mario, over there!"

A gigantic horde of zombies came towards Mario and Luigi.

"Luigi, take a starman! There's no way we can take all of them without it!"

Mario and Luigi began glowing in all colors of the rainbow. They ran towards the horde and began smashing each of the zombies one by one. They were stronger than initially expected; some of them took quite a few hits before dying. It took them a long 30 minutes before they were all dead.

"Good. We got all of them.", Luigi said.

"I have a feeling there are more of them. Keep searching."

"You two seem to be quite able to defend yourselves."

Mario and Luigi turned around. Between 2 trees, they saw a strange man with a cloak and blue skin staring at them. At least, they thought he was, since nothing but a big grin was visible from under the cloak.

"Who are you?", Mario said.

"Nobody knows who I am, and neither do I."

"You should get out of here. This place is dangerous."

"Dangerous, you say? Maybe you two are not the people I'm looking for after all…"

"We don't have time for this. Tell us want you want and then get out of here."

The man's grin became even bigger.

"Well, I was just observing you two. You've got great fighting skills, killing those zombies with almost no effort at all… I began wondering… Maybe I can give this to you two, with such strong fighting spirits…"

The man grabbed a fire flower out of nowhere, or so it seemed. Mario wasn't amused. He became a bit angry.

"That's just an ordinary fire flower. I'm telling you, don't waste our time!"

"Hehehehehehehe…"

"_Who is this guy?"_, Luigi thought to himself.

"Oh, but you see, this isn't any ordinary fire flower… No, what you're looking at is a pyro flower. The normal fire flower only lets you throw minor fireballs, but the pyro flower gives you the ability to burn through anything."

"Anything?", Mario said. "I find that hard to believe."

"I wouldn't give you this if you weren't allowed to test it. Test it on that zombie over there. I hope you're prepared for the results… Hehehe…"

Mario gave the pyro flower to the zombie, which he didn't even see coming. Suddenly, a gigantic fire pillar erupted around the zombie, which was so huge that it was seemingly endlessly high. When the pillar disappeared, the zombie's eyes had turned dark red. His hands were cloaked in fire, though it didn't seem to hurt him.

Mario was speechless. "God, help us…"

The zombie shot at Mario and Luigi with his fire, which burned the forest, or whatever was left of it, to the ground. Mario tried to jump on the zombie, but…

"AAAARRRGGHHH!"

The zombie shot a wave of fire at Mario, which severely burned him.

"Mario, no!"

"Luigi, finish him!"

Luigi kicked the zombie in the stomach, paralyzing him. He smashed his head a few times, which killed the zombie.

"Fool! You could've gotten us killed!", yelled Mario at the mystery man.

"But then I was right, or wasn't I?"

The look in Mario's eyes changed. He realized the potential that this pyro flower had. Still, he knew someone like this couldn't be trusted.

"And who says you're not just trying to poison us?", said Luigi.

The mystery man grabbed another pyro flower and used it himself.

"I wouldn't poison myself, now wouldn't I?"

It was silent for a few minutes.

"Very well, we'll take your pyro flower. But leave us alone now.", said Mario.

"Are you sure? I'm willing to give you more power-ups, for a reasonable price, of course. Hehehehe…"

"No thank you. We're going to continue with our journey now, if that's fine with you."

Mario and Luigi walked out of the forest. The mystery man laughed for a few minutes.

"Yes, walk towards your fate. Walk towards your doom. Hehehehehehehehe…"

**To be continued in chapter 6!**


	6. Bowser's Insanity

The unexpected battles with Goomboss and Eyerok had delayed Mario and Luigi.

"Mario, we need to hurry up. It's already 12:36!"

"We're almost there, just a little while longer!"

Mario stopped between two mountains.

"Luigi, pass me the wand!"

Luigi gave the wand to Mario. Mario grabbed his walkie-talkie to contact professor Toad.

"Professor, we have arrived at the mountainside. Please confirm if we're at the right place, we don't have much time left."

"Confirmed. You can proceed to use that spell of yours."

Mario put the walkie-talkie away. He waited for about a minute. He started the process at 12:39 PM, exactly as planned.

"_Let's hope to god this works… _Okay Luigi, let's do this. Hold the wand together with me, and then use the spell, Ok?

"Ok."

"Alright, 3…2…1…"

"LANUAE MAGICAE!", said Mario and Luigi, together.

Suddenly, there was a flash. Mario and Luigi shot up into the sky. In mere seconds, they had seen all of outer space. They fell back to the ground. Another flash. When Mario opened his eyes, they were on Bowser's Road.

Luigi could not comprehend what he had just seen. "Bro? Where are you? What happened?"

The same could be said for Mario. "I'm not sure, but I think it worked!"

Mario and Luigi were lying on a bridge. The surrounding area was filled with lava. Goombas, Koopas, Bullet Bills, Hammer Bros., Piranha Plants, Bomb-ombs, Bully's, Shy Guys, Blarggs, Buzzy Beetles, Spinies, Whomps, they were all there. And at the end of the bridge was a massive castle, with 2 Bowser statues next to the entrance. This was clearly Bowser's castle.

"They're here, master Bowser."

"Excellent. Let them in. They're our special guests, after all. Hor hor hor… Actually, no, attack them with all the force you've got."

"We're on it, sir."

Mario and Luigi were attacked head on. Hundreds, no, thousands of troops came running at them.

"_So, you're going all-out with this one. Fine. _Give me your best shot, Bowser! COME ON!", said Mario.

Luigi was surprised by Mario's reaction. "_So many troops, yes he shows no signs of fear… I'm proud to be your brother, Mario."_

Mario and Luigi swiftly avoided every single Bullet Bill, hammer and Koopa shell that were thrown at them. Goombas literally pissed themselves from fear before they were finished off. The closer Mario and Luigi came to the door, more troops came after them. The Hammer Bros. on top of the castle posed quite a threat, but they were all disposed of when they were hit by a volley of Bomb-ombs Luigi threw at them. Everything went great, until…

"Mario!"

A knife hit Mario in his shoulder. Mario collapsed.

"_Please don't do this to me, Mario…"_

"Don't worry about me, Luigi. I'm fine."

Mario pulled the knife out of his shoulder. He threw it back at the Koopa that had stabbed him. The knife hit the Koopa in-between his eyes, which made him fall into the lava as a result.

"_Mario seems so… different. He didn't even get hurt by that knife…"_

The last few troops ran back into Bowser's castle. Some of them fell into the lava because of carelessness… and fear.

"That was for Yoshi, you miserable, filthy monster!", Mario yelled.

The castle doors closed. Bowser started talking to Mario and Luigi via 2 gigantic speakers on the castle walls.

"Well, boo-hoo. I'm sorry that your wittle fwiend had to die, but it was necessary for my plan. I would've opened the door if I didn't hate you and your brother. But since that is the case, you're going to need to find another way in. Hor hor hor!"

The speakers broke, though it was probably just Bowser cutting the wires in an attempt to seem more intimidating. Mario grabbed his walkie-talkie.

"Professor, we're at Bowser's castle. I need you to calculate our current coordinates and search for an entrance to Bowser's castle.

"Sure, Mario. Give me a second."

It was silent for a few minutes.

"Mario, I think you can enter through the pipe system. It's a network of pipes that move lava through the castle. If you walk on the pipes, eventually you'll come by a ventilation shaft. You can enter the castle through that. Be cautious, this is a very dangerous route."

"Don't worry about us, professor, We'll be fine.", Luigi exclaimed.

"Let's hope so…", Mario said.

Mario put the walkie-talkie away. Mario and Luigi went down the pipe. When they reached the horizontal part of the network, Mario smashed a hole in the pipe. When they came out of the pipe, they were shocked to see a great sea of lava below them.

"Oh no… The ventilation shaft is all the way over there?! I can't guarantee you that I won't die of stress on the way there, Mario."

"You have to stay calm, Luigi. One mistake, and we're both dead."

Mario and Luigi slowly moved to the other side of the pipe network. Everything went fine, until Mario slipped up.

"Crap!"

Mario grabbed the pipe right before he fell to his death, but since the pipe was round it wasn't long until Mario fell. Luigi had to think of something, and quick.

"Mario, take this!"

Luigi threw a wing cap towards Mario. Just before Mario fell into the lava, he grabbed the wing cap and flied back to the pipe.

"Damn, that was a close one… Thanks, Luigi."

"No problem."

Eventually, Mario and Luigi came across the ventilation shaft. They crawled through it for a little while, until they found the exit. When they came out of the ventilation shaft, they saw a Koopa sitting on a chair. Mario sneaked up on the Koopa and smashed him on the ground.

"Where is Bowser's throne room?!", Mario yelled while he put his foot on the Koopa's neck.

"Oh god, please don't kill me, please…"

"I won't kill you if you tell me where Bowser is!"

"But I'll lose my job, and…"

"SPEAK!"

"Alright, just don't kill me, please… His throne room is 2 floors above this one… Take the elevator, or something…"

"Thank you. As a reward, you get to take a nap."

Mario knocked the Koopa out and put him on his chair, to make it look as if he was sleeping.

"Was that necessary?", Luigi asked Mario.

"Yes, it was. He could've warned Bowser as soon as we left."

Mario and Luigi waited for the elevator. When it arrived, they knocked down all of the minions inside of it. When they came by the throne room, they opened the door. There he was, sitting on his throne.

"Ah, the Mario brothers. I wasn't expecting you so early."

"Mario, it's a trap!", said Peach, who was in a cage, as usual. For some reason, she was crying.

"Hush, little princess, don't say a word. Bowser's gonna buy you a mockingbird. Hor hor hor…"

For some reason, that laugh sent chills down Mario and Luigi's spines.

"_Has he gone insane?! I've never seen him like this before…"_, Luigi thought to himself.

"How did you reincarnate king Bomb-omb, Goomboss and Eyerok?! And what have you done to the forest?!", Mario yelled at Bowser.

"You expect me to just tell that to you? Hor hor, priceless! Very well, then I will.

It all began a few weeks ago. I was sitting in the forest, together with my troops, my son and Kamek, wondering what my next move was going to be, when a man in a cloak with yellow skin and a gigantic grin approached us."

"_A man in a cloak? …With a gigantic grin? No, that man had blue skin… It has to be a coincidence.", _Luigi thought to himself.

"I wanted the man to go away, until he gave me an offer. He said he could grant me the power to bring back the dead. Of course, I didn't believe him, but he let me test the power first. He gave me some kind of machine. He told me to enter the name of the person I wanted to bring back, and that the machine would do the rest. I decided to bring back one of my fallen army members. To my surprise, it worked. The Koopa that was killed during an invasion 3 years before, was standing right next to me. I gladly accepted the offer.

But that wasn't all. He offered me a second thing; an extremely explosive powder that was able to burn huge amounts of ground by the touch of just a little bit of fire. I tested it. With just a little bit of powder I was able to destroy a whole field of grass. Again, I accepted the offer. That's how I destroyed the forest. By the way, I named it Bowser Powder. Catchy, huh? Hor hor hor…

The man offered me one last thing; a mutation pill. He gave me the pill and said I should give it to one of my minions. So I did. The Koopa grew, and grew, and then grew some more. I was amazed.

I soon realized the growth was getting out of control. I ordered my army to take him down, but it was no use. They all fell to his mighty rage. I ordered Kamek to bring Bowser Jr. back to the castle. I tried to destroy the monster myself. Eventually I did, but it was harder than expected. In fact, he almost killed me. Though I was mad at the man, it did prove the quality of his pill. So I took it.

But the man didn't let me take it so easily. He said that after 3 offers, I should pay him with a very special kind of… money. Hor hor…"

"And that money was?", Mario asked.

"**My soul."**

"What?!", Mario, Luigi and Peach all said at the same time.

"I've never felt so alive! HOR HOR HOR!"

"_He's got dedication, I'll give him that…", _Mario thought to himself.

It was silent for a while.

"You know, I should warn you… Inside one of my airships, I put a bomb filled with a huge amount of Bowser Powder, and I'm planning on sending it off to destroy something right about… now."

Mario and Luigi were shocked.

"Where is this bomb heading right now?!", Mario asked.

"It's heading straight to Toad Town."

**To be continued in chapter 7!**


End file.
